Roman Historia

Above: Julius Caesar receives the surrender of Vercingetorix For Julius Caesar, the conquest of Gaul would prove to be his greatest triumph. Spanning a multitude of barbarian tribes and local factions, Gaul had long invoked fear within the Roman psyche. The thought of giant, long haired and unruly Gallic chieftains marauding across Rome had remained a longstanding fear within the city, with the tribes of Gaul themselves becoming an almost mythical being in the Roman imagination. Caesar’s conquest of Gaul – encompassing parts of modern day France, Belgium, Netherlands, Germany, Switzerland and Luxembourg – would immortalise his name in Roman history as one of the all time great conquerors. However, on the battlefield outside of Alesia (modern day Dijon), Caesar’s troops, alongside his legacy, faced its biggest challenge. The Great Uprising As the January cold settled across the Gallic landscape, in 52 BC Caesar was well on his way to completing his conquest of Gaul. Having...

By the first century BC, Rome had managed to establish itself as the uncontested master of the Mediterranean - controlling the sea from Spain (Hispania) to the Aegean and beyond. Although Roman military might had successfully fought its way through all challengers, Rome faced a very different proposition when it came to that of its latest challenge in the 60s BC - piracy. Piracy in the Roman World Piracy was nothing new to the Romans. Pirates had remained a constant threat in the Mediterranean throughout various points in history - disrupting trade, taking slaves and holding prominent prisoners for ransom. However, in the 2nd century BC, Roman conquest in the eastern Mediterranean had left a power vacuum that pirates were able to exploit and subsequently expand their operations. The conquest of Rhodes by Rome, a state that had previously acted as a counter to piracy in the region, had allowed piracy to pick up pace during this period. In particular, Cilicia (in modern day ...